The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati on Sunday hit out at the Samajwadi Party (SP) General Secretary Swami Prasad Maurya for trying to create a religious divide with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. She was refering to his comment on demolition of Buddhist monasteries.
“The latest statement of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mr. Swami Prasad Maurya that many temples including Badrinath have been built by demolishing Buddhist monasteries and a modern survey should be done not only of Gyanvapi Masjid but also of other major temples, is a pure political statement aimed at creating new controversies,” wrote Ms. Mayawati, on Twitter.
Why now, asks Mayawati
The four-time U.P. CM also asked the SP leader why he didn’t raise this issue while serving as a minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. “Mr. Maurya was a minister in the BJP government for a long time, why did he not put pressure on his party and the government? Creating a religious controversy just before elections is the disgusting politics of the SP. Buddhist and Muslim communities are not going to be misled by them,” Ms. Mayawati added.
Mr. Maurya, the SP’s leading non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBC) face on Wednesday said’ amid the legal tussle over the survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, that many Hindu temples in India were Buddhist religious places in the past adding such Hindu temples were built by demolishing Buddhist monasteries and temples and if the survey is taking place, it should also be surveyed what was before the Hindu temple.
“The matter (Gyanvapi issue) is under consideration in Court, it will not be right to comment. But, if the survey is taking place, it should also cover what came before the Hindu temple. I believe most of the present Hindu temples were Buddhist religious places like temples, monasteries or learning centers in the past. These (Hindu temples) have been constructed after demolishing them,” said Mr. Maurya.
